Apple's Biggest Problem Might Be Europe

The following video is from Wednesday's installment of The Motley Fool's Weekly Tech Review, in which host Chris Hill, and analysts Eric Bleeker and Lyons George look at the biggest stories driving the tech sector this week.

In this segment, Eric and Lyons discuss Apple's challenges in Europe. Recent research from Kantar Worldpanel shows the iPhone picking up market share gains in the United States. Over the past three months ending in May, 41.9% of all smartphones sold in the United States were iPhones. That compares with 38.5% in the comparable period from the previous year. That growth rate is above Android, which saw flat market share in the United States year over year.

In Australia, the iPhone saw nearly flat market share year over year but still maintained 28.5% of all smartphone sales. Even in urban China, its share stands at an impressive 23.6%.

Yet in Europe, the iPhone continues to fall behind, seeing its share shrink to 17.8% in the past three months, as measured by Kantar. The woes are heightened by share losses in Germany and Italy, both countries where the iPhone's market share has fallen to 15% or lower while Android continues surging. In the following video, Eric and Lyons discuss Apple's Europe woes, and why a cheaper "iPhone lite" could be important to filling a lower-end pricing gap in not just emerging markets, but in Europe.

Apple has a history of cranking out revolutionary products ... and then creatively destroying them with something better. A future "iPhone lite" could be the next generation of a trend where Apple is willing to cannibalize hit products. Read about the future of Apple in the free report "Apple Will Destroy Its Greatest Product." Can Apple really disrupt its own iPhones and iPads? Find out by clicking here.